TAROT WARS
INTRODUCTION
CCG style rules for Tarot Decks.
There are so many nice Tarot Decks it’s a shame not to game with them.
Card game for 2+ players.
VICTORY
Reduce your opponent to Zero Life Points.
THE DECK
Players share a common deck.
Use any Tarot Deck on hand.
There are 3 card types: Characters, Events, and Modifiers:
Character cards stay face-up in play until killed.
Event cards are discarded as soon as they are played.
Modifier cards stay in play attached face-up to a Character card.
LIFE POINTS
Each player starts with 50 Life Points.
Use coins to keep track of LP.
You can never have more than 50 LP.
ACTION TOKENS
Use tokens for Action Tokens (AT).
Every time a Character is used to Attack, Block, or some other action, put an AT on it.
A Character with an AT can do nothing until the AT is removed in Beginning Phase.
OTHER TERMINOLOGY
Target (Unspecified): Character or Opponent’s Life Point Total.
SETUP
Each player is dealt 7 cards.
Cut the Deck High to determine turn order.
TURN SEQUENCE
Players take turns.
Each turn has 5 Phases:
Beginning Phase
Draw Phase
Character Phase
Attack Phase
End Phase
BEGINNING PHASE
Remove Action Tokens from your Characters.
DRAW PHASE
Draw 2 cards and put them in your hand.
If the Deck runs out, shuffle the discard & draw from it.
Every time your deck runs out, you lose 5 Life Points.
CHARACTER PHASE
Put Character cards from your hand face-up into play.
The Characters that you put into play in a single turn can have a
maximum combined Base Force = 12
(The Tower counts as Force = 10 for purpose of above rule)
You “Control” Characters you put into play.
You may also put Modifier cards into play.
Modifier cards are attached face-up to a Character card.
A Character can have a maximum of 1 Sword card attached.
ATTACK PHASE
Your Characters may Attack.
Characters attack a Target Opponents Life Point Total (LPT).
An Unblocked Character does Damage equal to its Modified Force Total (MFT).
This Damage is subtracted from the players Life Points.
The Target Opponent (The Defender) may use his Characters to Block.
The Defender chooses which of his Characters block which Attackers.
Each pair of Blocking/Blocked Characters does damage to each other.
Defenders may team up, but attackers cannot.
If a single attacking character is being blocked by 2 or more
Characters, the attacking character decides how the damage it does is
distributed to the Blockers.
If a Character receives more damage in a Phase than its MFT, it is discarded.
Blocked Characters do not damage the opposing LPT.
Characters cannot attack the turn they are put into play.
END PHASE
Maximum hand size = 7 cards.
Discard excess cards.
CARD LIST NOTATION
C = Character (The number after the C is the “Force” of the Character)
E = Event
M = Modifier
CARD LIST
Card Name Type Notes
The Fool M Character has a Base Force = 1
The Magician C10 Action: Look at opponents Hand
The High Priestess C7 All your Characters get Force +1
The Empress C8 All your Defending Characters get Force +2
The Emperor C9 All your Attacking Characters get Force +2
The Hierophant C6 Action: Draw 1 Card
The Lovers E Take control of target Character
The Chariot M Force +10 if Attacking
Strength M Force +5
The Hermit C2 Action: Look at next 7 cards in deck
The Wheel of Fortune E All Players discard their hands and draw 7 cards
Justice E Duplicates an Event Card just Played
The Hanged Man E Discard Target Character
Death E Each player must discard one of their Characters in Play
Temperance E Search Discard for Card & put it in your hand
The Devil C11 Action: Opponent Discards 1 card
The Tower C20 The Tower Cannot Attack
The Star E Draw 3 cards
The Moon E Opponent must discard entire hand
The Sun E Take an extra turn after this one
The Last Judgment E Discard all Characters in Play
The World E Search Deck for Card & put it in your hand
King of Wands C5 All your Wands do +2 Damage
Queen of Wands C4 Action: Do 1 point of Damage to Target
Knight of Wands C3 Force +7 if Blocking or Blocked
Page of Wands C2 Draw a card if you play a Wand
Ace of Wands E Put Target Character back in owners Hand
Two of Wands E Do 2 Damage to all Targets in play
Three of Wands E Do 3 points of Damage to Target
Four of Wands E Do 4 points of Damage to Target
Five of Wands E Do 5 points of Damage to Target
Six of Wands E Do 6 points of Damage to Target
Seven of Wands E Do 7 points of Damage to Target
Eight of Wands E Do 8 points of Damage to Target
Nine of Wands E Do 9 points of Damage to Target
Ten of Wands E Do 10 points of Damage to Target
King of Cups C5 Draw a card if you play a Cup
Queen of Cups C4 Action: Negate 2 points of Damage to Target
Knight of Cups C3 If killed gain 10 Life Points
Page of Cups C2 Gain Life = Damage caused by Page
Ace of Cups E Opponent cannot Attack this Turn
Two of Cups E Target Character cannot attack this Turn
Three of Cups E Gain 3 Life Points
Four of Cups E Gain 4 Life Points
Five of Wands E Gain 5 Life Points
Six of Cups E Gain 6 Life Points
Seven of Cups E Gain 7 Life Points
Eight of Cups E Gain 8 Life Points
Nine of Cups E Gain 9 Life Points
Ten of Cups E Gain 10 Life Points
King of Swords C5 All your Swords do +2 Damage
Queen of Swords C4 You may use Swords like Wands
Knight of Swords C3 Attached Sword has Double Force
Page of Swords C2 If Unblocked opponent must discard a card
Ace of Swords E All your Characters get Force +1 this turn
Two of Swords E Target Character cannot be Blocked
Three of Swords M Character gets Force +3
Four of Swords M Character gets Force +4
Five of Swords M Character gets Force +5
Six of Swords M Character gets Force +6
Seven of Swords M Character gets Force +7
Eight of Swords M Character gets Force +8
Nine of Swords M Character gets Force +9
Ten of Swords M Character gets Force +10
King of Pentacles C5 Hand Size +3
Queen of Pentacles C4 All Opponents Hand Size –1
Knight of Pentacles C3 Immune to Opponents Event Cards
Page of Pentacles C2 Cannot be Blocked
Ace of Pentacles E Discard all Modifier cards in Play
Two of Pentacles E Discard target Modifier Card
Three of Pentacles E Negate Card just Played
Four of Pentacles E Negate Card just Played
Five of Pentacles E Negate Card just Played
Six of Pentacles E Negate Card just Played
Seven of Pentacles E Negate Card just Played
Eight of Pentacles E Negate Card just Played
Nine of Pentacles E Negate Card just Played
Ten of Pentacles E Negate Card just Played
NOTES
if you have more than 3 or 4 players, you may want
to use more than one deck.
VARIANTS PLEASE
I welcome people to write up:
1. Variant rules for cards
(For example- The Fool cannot Block)
2. Variant card rules for the whole deck
(Rewrite all the cards- allow for more
combos or different strategies)
(Note in some decks the Knight & Page are the
Prince & Princess)
3. Variant card rules for different Tarot Decks.
(For example- You might want to use my card rules
list for the Rider-Waite Tarot Deck and a different
rules list for the Sacred circle Tarot Deck, and then
play the Decks against each other.
It would need to be following the same general
rules to be playable though-
The court cards being characters
Wands as event damage
Swords as character equipment
Cups as health
Pentacles as magic/metagame
And the other cards as a variety of specials -
character, modifier and event.)
LINKS
Tarot Decks
ELEMENTAL DECK CARD LIST (by Peter Cobcroft)
Card Name Type Notes
The Fool C1 Gets Force +1 for every Opponent Character in play
The Magician C10 Action: Look at opponents Hand
The High Priestess C7 All your Characters get Force +1
The Empress C8 All your Defending Characters get Force +2
The Emperor C9 All your Attacking Characters get Force +2
The Hierophant C6 Action: Draw 1 Card
The Lovers E Take control of target Character
The Chariot M Force +10 if Attacking
Strength M Force +5
The Hermit C2 Action: Look at next 7 cards in deck
The Wheel of Fortune E All Players discard their hands and draw 7 cards
Justice E Duplicates an Event Card just Played
The Hanged Man E Discard Target Character
Death E Every player must discard one of their Characters in Play
Temperance E Search Discard for Card & put it in your hand
The Devil C11 Action: Opponent Discards 1 card
The Tower C20 The Tower Cannot Attack
The Star E Draw 3 cards
The Moon E Opponent must discard entire hand
The Sun E Take an extra turn after this one
The Last Judgment E Discard all Characters in Play
The World E Search Deck for Card & put it in your hand
King of Wands C6 Adds 1 Force to other Wand Characters (earth elemental)
Queen of Wands C4 You may use Wands like Swords
Knight of Wands C3 Attached Wand has Double Force
Page of Wands C2 Draw a card if you play a Wand
Ace of Wands E All your Characters get Force +1 this turn when blocking
Two of Wands E Do 2 Damage to all Targets in play (earthquake)
Three of Wands M Character gets Force +2 when blocking, +4 if discarded (earthworks)
Four of Wands M Character gets Force +3 when blocking, +5 if discarded (earthworks)
Five of Wands M Character gets Force +4 when blocking, +6 if discarded (earthworks)
Six of Wands M Character gets Force +5 when blocking, +7 if discarded (earthworks)
Seven of Wands M Character gets Force +6 when blocking, +8 if discarded (earthworks)
Eight of Wands M Character gets Force +7 when blocking, +9 if discarded (earthworks)
Nine of Wands M Character gets Force +8 when blocking, +10 if discarded (earthworks)
Ten of Wands M Character gets Force +9 when blocking, +11 if discarded (earthworks)
King of Cups C6 Adds 1 Force to other Cup Characters (water elemental)
Queen of Cups C4 Action: Negate 2 points of Damage to Target
Knight of Cups C3 If killed gain 10 Life Points
Page of Cups C2 Cup cards give +2 Life
Ace of Cups E Opponent cannot Attack this Turn
Two of Cups M Target Character cannot block (quicksand).
Three of Cups E Gain 3 Life Points
Four of Cups E Gain 4 Life Points
Five of Cups E Gain 5 Life Points
Six of Cups E Gain 6 Life Points
Seven of Cups E Gain 7 Life Points
Eight of Cups E Gain 8 Life Points
Nine of Cups E Gain 9 Life Points
Ten of Cups E Gain 10 Life Points
King of Swords C6 Adds 1 Force to other Sword Characters (fire elemental)
Queen of Swords C4 You may use Swords like Wands
Knight of Swords C3 Attached Sword has Double Force
Page of Swords C2 If Unblocked opponent must discard a card
Ace of Swords E All your Characters get Force +1 this turn when attacking
Two of Swords M Target Character cannot attack (wall of fire)
Three of Swords M Character gets Force +2 when attacking, +4 if discarded (fireball)
Four of Swords M Character gets Force +3 when attacking, +5 if discarded (fireball)
Five of Swords M Character gets Force +4 when attacking, +6 if discarded (fireball)
Six of Swords M Character gets Force +5 when attacking, +7 if discarded (fireball)
Seven of Swords M Character gets Force +6 when attacking, +8 if discarded (fireball)
Eight of Swords M Character gets Force +7 when attacking, +9 if discarded (fireball)
Nine of Swords M Character gets Force +8 when attacking, +10 if discarded (fireball)
Ten of Swords M Character gets Force +9 when attacking, +11 if discarded (fireball)
King of Pentacles C6 Adds 1 Force to other Pentacle Characters (wind elemental)
Queen of Pentacles C4 Ignores Opponents Modifier Cards
Knight of Pentacles C3 Immune to Opponents Event Cards
Page of Pentacles C2 Cannot be Blocked
Ace of Pentacles E Remove all modifier cards and deal randomly (hurricane)
Two of Pentacles E Move any card on the table to any player (gust)
Three of Pentacles E Move card just played to own Character of choice (wind)
Four of Pentacles E Move card just played to own Character of choice (wind)
Five of Pentacles E Move card just played to own Character of choice (wind)
Six of Pentacles E Move card just played to own Character of choice (wind)
Seven of Pentacles E Move card just played to any Character of choice (tornado)
Eight of Pentacles E Move card just played to any Character of choice (tornado)
Nine of Pentacles E Move card just played to any Character of choice (tornado)
Ten of Pentacles E Move card just played to any Character of choice (tornado)
NOTES
Wands = Earth
Cups = Water
Swords = Fire
Pentacles = Air
A Character may only have one Sword and one Wand card.
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